Weekend Agora

I have been rather tired out and exhausted by the week's number of lessons we were having where practically every day we had 6 hours of classes - morning and afternoon! :-P

As such, updating my entries here have been irregular. So, when the weekend arrived, it was with a great sense of relief that I could find some time to just laze a bit, even if I had to take time to complete some homework for the coming Monday.

The Pope in now in Loreto with the youths from all over Italy and other European countries for the Agora gathering. He will be there for this occasion till Sunday, 2 September.

As the Catholic World News explained it:

The "Agora" meeting is part of a 3-year campaign among Catholic youth, which in turn is the result of a pastoral-planning meeting among Italian Church leaders in 2006. The campaign, designed to reinvigorate the faith among young Italians, will continue through the World Youth Day observance in Sydney, Australia, in July 2008, and conclude with a final year of evangelization aimed at Italian youth.

Yesterday, Friday 31 Aug, we the priests from the Villa with the other group from Lugnano went over to the Terni centro (town center) to celebrate mass with 15 other bishops where the main celebrant was Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, for the youths who were going to Loreto for the event. I managed to take a few pictures of the occasion which began at 7.00 p.m.

The event took place in the town square where it could accomodate about 1,000+ people. It was sort of a mini 'Agora' which had songs and dance presentation after the Mass and packed dinner which followed. I was tired out when we all finally came home just before 11.00 p.m.

Today besides the pesky homework, I did nothing much except to put this entry down... :-)

Loreto

Took a trip to Loreto this morning with a 3 hour journey that began at 7.30 am.

When we finally reached the town, it was a cool and bright day with the sun shining but with a brilliance that wasn't scorching. :-) We had a few hours to roam around the area and visit some souvenir shops and also explore the basilica that housed the Nazareth home. Mass was celebrated there at 12 noon with a total of 122 priests, 30 sisters and some other people in the congregation who were mainly tourists. The altar was in front of the grand mausoleum-like edifice that covered the house 'relic'. The carvings along the walls tell the story of how the 'house' was brought to Loreto.

After the mass and a short break for our packet lunch we hit the beach that fronted the Adriatic Sea and had an hour of exploration there with the bathers and beach-goers. It was very windy there and a good number of people were enjoying themselves as they soaked in the Adriatic sun and playing on the sand. Some of the priests took that opportunity to grab a short dip in the sea as they bravely fronted the strong waves that came crashing onto the shore.

It wasn't a trip that was full of spectacular scenes to see, though those at the basilica were very interesting indeed. For some, it may have been a little boring. Well, it was a weekend outing that helped me clear my mind a little after so many weeks of ingesting Italian and her crazy grammar! :-P

It was another three hour trip back from Loreto and we passed through some scenic valleys and mountainous regions that took my breath away!

You can grab all the shots of the trip at my flickr page! ;-)